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While London has rushed to point the accusing finger at Serbs for the Srebrenica tragedy, the British have apparently forgotten their own shameful history of the genocide of the people of India, Rakesh Krishnan Simha said.

While British policy makers are expressing their “righteous” anger over Russia’s decision to veto their resolution on the Srebrenica “genocide” of 1995 discussed by the UN Security Council earlier this month, London should obviously look in the mirror and recall its own colonial past, New Zealand-based journalist and foreign affairs analyst Rakesh Krishnan Simha said.

There is no need to delve deep into history, the analyst noted, referring to the infamous Bengal Famine of 1943-44 that can be classified as the greatest disaster in the subcontinent in the 20th century.

“Bengal had a bountiful harvest in 1942, but the British started diverting vast quantities of food grain from India to Britain, contributing to a massive food shortage in the areas comprising present-day West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Bangladesh,” the foreign affairs analyst narrated in his article “Remembering India’s Forgotten Holocaust” in 2014.

Just in a year, the manmade famine had claimed the lives of over 3 million Indians.

The Famine in India: Natives Waiting for Relief at Bangalore

“Winston Churchill was just the last of the many murderous despots who presided over India’s fate during the over 200 years of British rule. He said, “I hate Indians. They are beastly people with a beastly religion”,” Simha

Can We Classify the Bengal Famine as Genocide?

Can we classify the Bengal Famine as genocide? Genocide is a systematic killing of a people in great numbers and Churchill intentionally, and with open malice towards Indians, diverted grain from India to Europe, the analyst pointed out. He added that even when desperate pleas came from the administration in Bengal, Churchill refused to dispatch emergency food supplies. The UK prime minister even went so far as to blame Indians for the famine, saying that they “breed like rabbits.”

“When the British representatives in India asked Churchill to stop diverting Indian food grains to Europe and to supply India with wheat from Australia, he replied: “If there is famine in India, then why is Gandhi still alive?”” the analyst remarked bitterly.

The Bengal Famine happened despite India being a food-surplus country with a bumper harvest that year, he stressed. And that had not been the first time when the British rulers facilitated food shortages in India.

Photograph of a South India family in 1878 by W.W. Hooper

Simha stressed that during over 200 years of British rule, India saw at least two dozen major famines, which collectively killed 60 million people. The journalist added that the figure is based on numbers collated by British officials and economists and in reality it is significantly higher.

The analyst pointed out that during the 1877 famine in India, the only acquire to get some food was to work in the British labor camps. Within those camps, starving Indians received only 16 ounces of rice per day — less than the Jewish inmates of Buchenwald, the Nazi concentration camp of the Second World War. One would say that India had faced famines even before the British colonial rule. However, “in the past 2000 years of Indian history, there were very few famine deaths because the Indian rulers ensured the well-being of the people through emergency food supplies and field kitchens,” the journalist underscored.

“Hitler’s hatred for Jews led to the Holocaust and Britain’s malice towards Indians caused the deaths of at least 60 million Indians, including three million people during the Bengal Famine. Proportionately, the Bengal Famine was a holocaust on a bigger scale than the Jewish Holocaust. It took Hitler 12 years to murder 6 million Jews, but the British starved at least 3 million Indians to death in a 15 month period from 1943 to 1944. Indian estimates put the toll at 7 million,” the journalist

Simha pointed out that Hitler wanted to destroy the entire Jewish population of Europe because of race and religious reasons; furthermore, Hitler saw Jews as competitors in the German economy.

“Hitler also wanted to create Lebensraum in Europe for pure Germans. If you look at the history of English colonialism, they have created their own versions of Lebensraum in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand after the genocide of native populations,” the analyst underscored.

“They [the British] may have wanted to do the same in India. But the British couldn’t replicate armed genocide in India because Indians put up a ferocious counter attack and defeated the British in several wars. So the British may have decided to systematically eradicate Indians through famines. In fact, Churchill’s scorched earth policy was intended to enfeeble the Indian population so the Japanese-armed Indian National Army which was planning to liberate India from the east would not find able bodied men in Bengal,” he elaborated.

Why Does the Story of the Indian Genocide Remain Unspoken?

So, why does the story of the Indian genocide still remain unspoken? Why does the West that has recently rushed to blame Serbs for “genocide” of Bosnian Muslims remains suspiciously silent about its own hideous atrocities?

“First up, why would the US, UK, Spain or France admit at all to genocides they have committed? It is precisely because the scale of their own crimes is so staggering that they quickly latch on to other countries’ internal problems. For instance, after an alleged 100,000 East Timorese were killed by the Indonesians, the West suddenly adopted the role of savior, conscience keeper and protector. It then invaded East Timor and illegally made it an independent country. It did the same in Kosovo,” Rakesh Krishnan Simha elaborated.

“The UK and British immigrants in America wiped out Native Indians by the tens of millions. In Africa, the British massacred Kenyans,” he added.
According to the journalist, considering the scale of the atrocities, the international community should conduct an official investigation into the Indian genocide.

“If the US Congress can condemn the Turkish genocide of Armenians a 100 years ago, then they can also censure Britain for even bigger holocausts in India. For this to happen, private Indian individuals must come forward to demand apology and reparations. There are a number of Indians who remember the holocaust and were affected by it,” the analyst pointed out.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday assured visiting US special envoy on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, that Pakistan would keep up efforts to facilitate the Afghan peace process.

Khalilzad, who is on a two-week-long tour of Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and China for talks on the peace process — which has suffered a setback because of the Taliban’s persistent refusal to directly talk to the Afghan government in Kabul — arrived in Islamabad on Thursday for talks with top civilian and military leadership.

The envoy is accompanied by a US interagency delegation representing the Departments of Defence and State, and the National Security Council.

Both sides, during a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, discussed progress made in the peace process so far. Qureshi told Khalilzad that Pakistan’s efforts to bring peace and stability to the region would remain ongoing.

The foreign minister said that establishing peace in Afghanistan was the responsibility of all stakeholders.

Khalilzad thanked Qureshi for facilitating direct talks between the US government and the Afghan Taliban.

He added that that American leadership values Pakistan’s endeavours for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said that during Friday’s meeting with Qureshi, Khalilzad briefed him “on his recent engagements in the region for an Afghan peace and reconciliation process”.

He has been tasked with brokering a political solution to the Afghan conflict and has held multiple meetings with the leadership of Afghanistan as well as that of other countries in the region, including Pakistan.

He has also held three rounds of talks with the Afghan Taliban in order to reach a settlement that would allow the US to withdraw its army and end a 17-year-old war — America’s longest.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday ruled out any role for India in the Afghan peace process.

“India has no role in Afghanistan,” Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said at the weekly media briefing while responding to a query about Pakistan’s position on India’s part in the reconciliation process.

This was in sharp contrast to what Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had told the National Assembly last month. “Since India is present in Afghanistan, its cooperation in this regard (facilitating a negotiated settlement of the Afghan conflict) will also be required,” he had told legislators.

US Special Envoy for Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Amb Zalmay Khalilzad during his ongoing regional tour travelled to New Delhi where he met Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. At the conclusion of his Indian trip, he had said: “We discussed how to help Afghans achieve enduring peace and areas of possible cooperation, both bilaterally and regionally.”

The FO spokesman in his briefing acknowledged that Pakistan has a difficult relationship with India. He said that despite Pakistan’s efforts for normalisation no concrete progress could be achieved in ties with India. “You all know that India is not willing to engage with Pakistan,” he reminded.

Talking about ceasefire violations by India along the Line of Control (LoC), he said, New Delhi was justifying it by levelling baseless allegations of infiltration from the Pakistan side.

“Indian mal-intent is also apparent from their repeated ceasefire violations instead of using the hotline contact between both sides,” he said.

The spokesman rejected Indian claims that Pakistan had planned a cross-LoC raid by alleged ‘Border Action Teams’.

“No such teams exist in Pakistan. The Pakistan army is a responsible and professional force which is committed to protecting the lives and property of its own citizens and would not resort to such irresponsible provocation,” he maintained.

He renewed the call for New Delhi to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to monitor ceasefire violations.

“Pakistan has consistently maintained, including officially to India, the vital need for the smooth functioning of UNMOGIP in line with UN Security Council’s resolutions for maintaining peace and tranquility. Despite levelling false allegations, India restricts UNMOGIP allowing virtually no movement on the Indian side in contrast with Pakistan which allows unhindered functioning,” he said.

The spokesman said Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Qatar from January 21-22.

“Issues of mutual interest will be discussed during the visit. The prime minister will discuss the import of manpower by Qatar from Pakistan,” he said.

ISLAMABAD: While the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has expressed satisfaction over Pakistan’s efforts as well as plans against money laundering, India continues to raise questions about terror financing.

“The proceedings went well and almost all the FATF members appreciated measures taken by Pakistan and actions planned by it,” sources told after the conclusion of a three-day conference in Sydney, Australia.

The sources said that India kept asking questions about the measures Pakistan had taken against Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other such organisations. It dem­anded that the steps be made public.

The Pakistani delegation explained that all the actions recommended by the FATF had been taken and a compliance report submitted to its headquarters.

The delegation also made it clear that it would be the Pakistan government’s decision whether or not to publicize actions taken against banned organisations and would not succumb to desires of any specific member.

Most other members seem satisfied with Islamabad’s efforts against money laundering, terror financing

Pakistani officials also made it clear that they would not respond to verbal questions from adversaries but would be ready to provide comprehensive responses if written queries were submitted.

The sources said the Indian delegates then filed a total of 28 questions with the FATF, which were shared with the Pakistani delegation.

Pakistan assured the FATF that responses to the questions would be provided in the next review meeting scheduled to be held in Paris on Feb 17-18. All the questions raised by the Indian delegates pertained to actions taken to block terror financing.

The sources said that Pakistan also told the FATF that there was no need for amendments to anti-money laundering laws and the Paris-based financial watchdog accepted Pakistan’s view.

While the action plan presented by Pakistan was accepted by the FATF as reasonable, the country would now follow up with implementation through strengthening of agencies and processes to combat money laundering and terror financing under international obligations.

The Pakistani delegation was led by Finance Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan and comprised representatives of the State Bank of Pakistan, National Counter Terrorism Authority, Federal Investigation Agency, Federal Board of Revenue and Financial Monitoring Unit.

An official claimed that the FATF had highlighted a few matters that were doable by May this year, but progress would need to be registered by February this year. A broader examination of the full compliance with international commitments will take place at another meeting in May, possibly in Sri Lanka or Australia.

Officials said the FATF had gone through the report dispatched by Pakistan last week before the review meetings with the Pakistani delegation involving questions and answers about the performance so far and the way forward. They said the FATF team appeared convinced over the steps and measures taken by the authorities to combat terror financing and money laundering in line with the UN resolutions.

The Pakistani delegation explained the implementation status of plans for various government agencies. Its report identified Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran borders as key routes for terror financing and money laundering and reported that a total of 4,643 suspected transactions had been identified and blocked since 2015, including 3,677 suspected transaction reports and 966 financial intelligence reports.

A total of 1,167 transactions were seized last year alone, including 975 STRs and 210 financial intelligence reports.

Karachi Police Chief Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh during a media briefing on Friday said that the attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi was planned in Afghanistan and carried out with the assistance of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

In November last year, three heavily armed militants attempted to enter the Chinese consulate in the ‘high security zone’ of Clifton’s Block-4 but were shot dead in an encounter with law enforcers. The gun-and-grenade assault also claimed the lives of two police officials and two visa applicants, and injured a private guard of the foreign mission. The banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) had claimed credit for the attack.

The additional inspector general of police disclosed that at least five facilitators have been arrested so far from Karachi, Hub and Quetta during the probe.

He said that based on the police’s investigation, the attack was aimed at sabotaging the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and meant to create trouble between Pakistan and China. “They wanted China to believe that Karachi is not [a] safe [city].”

Sharing the details of the attack, he said that the trained terrorists had been observing the consulate and particularly its visa section for almost four months. “They used to sit in the visa section of the consulate to observe when the gates open and other details.”

“They transported weapons in a boat engine from Quetta to Karachi through train service,” he said, adding that the weapons and other material were dumped at a house in Baldia Town area of Karachi.

“The terrorists used fake computerised national identity cards,” he said. “We are writing to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Railways to upgrade their security mechanism so that the facilities of the railways and the National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) are not abused by terrorists.”

He shared several photographs “recovered from the cell phones of the terrorists”. One of the facilitators was a cousin of Aslam alias Acho — the alleged mastermind of the attack — while another was the brother-in-law of another high-profile terrorist, who is considered to be the second to Acho, said Shaikh.

Shaikh added that there were reports that Acho and some other high-profile terrorists had been killed in an attack in Afghanistan but he refused to believe the news until and unless he “sees the bodies or any solid proof”.

It is an old tactic of terrorists to get themselves declared ‘killed’ to divert the attention of law enforcement agencies, he added.

Consulate’s reconnaissance

Earlier, sources familiar with the proceedings of the investigation had told that one of the killed militants, Abdul Raziq, resident of Kharan, with his accomplice Abdul Latif, hailing from Khuzdar in Balochistan, had visited Karachi on Aug 6 also. They had both stayed at hotels in Lyari and Saddar and conducted reconnaissance of the consulate.

With the help of technology, it was also discovered that the killed militants had also stayed in Sindh’s two cities, Shahdadpur and Sukkur, before going back to Quetta. They returned to Karachi via Hub, Balochistan, on the night of Nov 23 and stayed for a while in the Shershah area of Karachi before launching the gun-and-grenade attack.

After certain sections of Indian media on Monday reported that Norway’s prime minister had offered to mediate between Islamabad and New Delhi, Oslo’s ambassador denied the ‘erroneous’ claims, saying that Norway had neither been asked, nor had it offered to mediate.

Norway’s Ambassador to New Delhi Nils Ragnar Kamsvag was quoted by India Today as saying that Prime Minister Erna Solberg “has not offered to mediate between India and Pakistan as has been erroneously reported. Norway has neither been asked nor offered to mediate.”

Norwegian premier Solberg, who is on a three-day visit to India, was asked in an interview with NDTV yesterday whether there was “scope for mediation” between both countries by Oslo given its “traditional peacekeeping role”.

“If there is an interest from the partners, we will try to use the mechanisms that we know. We have been working quite a lot in different countries but we always have this one basic thinking: The partners need to want to sit down by the table and discuss,” she explained.

“Then, of course, if there is a need for a mediator, a need for a facilitator to fix ─ even though these are two very big countries that should manage to sort out things between themselves.”

The Norwegian prime minister, when asked whether Pakistan and India should talk more, said that she believed “all countries in the world should be talking more”.

She added that she thought both Pakistan and India should decrease their military expenditure “because we need more money for other areas to boost development ─ on health, education”.

“But I think that means that you have to try to decrease tensions between countries. And after such a long time ─ it’s been a long time since 1947 ─ now should probably be time to find good approaches between the two countries. But it’s up to you, the countries. It’s not a Norwegian mission,” she added.

Solberg was also asked about Norway’s former premier Kjell Magne Bondevik’s visit to India-held Kashmir last year, during which he met Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, sparking controversy in India.

Bondovik had also visited Azad Jammu and Kashmir at President Sardar Masood Khan’s invitation.

Solberg said that Bondovik’s trip to Kashmir was not an official visit. “I think he was invited and he wanted to see if there was some possibility to helping out. But there is no official mission.”

The Norwegian prime minister was also quizzed on Bondevik’s view that there cannot be a military solution to the Kashmir conflict. Solberg replied: “I don’t think there is a military solution to any situation like this. I think you have to have a popular support. You have to have good trust between the partners in any region where still there is a conflict. […] What we have learnt is that you have to bring in popular support and by getting women and youth into a peace process and that’s when you build a solid peace in an area where there have been a conflict.”

She went on to say: “I always hope that we can find a solution, get the partners to sit down, decrease violence in the area and all of that. But that’s up to the partners.”

“The only thing we know is to make sure that all partners are talking to each other,” she added.

WASHINGTON: A US Senator, who plans to contest the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump, has said she supports withdrawing American troops from military engagements in Syria and Afghanistan.

“I think it is right to get our troops out of Syria and let me add, I think it is right to get our troops out of Afghanistan,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who declared last week that she plans to run against President Trump in 2020. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee already, Senator Warren already has a say in military matters.

President Trump and senior officials of his administration announced recently that they planned to withdraw all US troops from Syria and half of the 14,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Senator Warren’s remarks, made during an interview to MSNBC television this week, shows that the pressure for pulling out troops from Afghanistan is being felt in both Republican and Democratic parties.

Although known for her strong criticism of President Trump and his views, Ms Warren refused to condemn his decision to withdraw troops from war-zones.

“I think that everybody who keeps saying, ‘No, no, no, we can’t do that (withdraw troops),’ in the defence establishment needs to explain what they think winning in those wars [looks] like and where the metrics are,” she said.

But the US lawmaker disagreed with President Tru­mp’s abrupt announcements on such sensitive issues, saying policies shouldn’t be conducted via Twitter.

“We actually need to plan this out and talk about it with our allies, how we ens­ure more safety and stability in the region,” she said.

Observers in Washington say that the Afghan war has become so unpopular in the United States that no American politician would like to advocate keeping troops there. And the talk of recalling troops from Afgha­nistan would grow louder when the election campaign starts later this year.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday criticized the Indian leadership and warned that their “provocative and negative statements, given under domestic political compulsions, can jeopardize regional peace”

Talking to media in Islamabad, Qureshi said Pakistan is a peace-loving country having no aggressive designs against anyone. We want “resolution of all outstanding issues, including Kashmir through peaceful means”, the minister said.

The foreign minister said that any “misadventure against Pakistan will be responded in a befitting manner” and that “[our] desire for peace should not be taken as [our] weakness”.

Qureshi urged the international community to ask the Indian leadership to refrain from spewing negative propaganda. “Pakistan wants peace, stability, and progress of the region, which is not possible in a hostile environment,” he added.

“We are focusing on peace efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan as per the desire of the international community. Indian propaganda machine may force us to divert our attention from Afghanistan, which can be disastrous for peace in the region,” Qureshi maintained.

The foreign minister also rejected the Indian propaganda that Pakistan has the intention to launch surgical strikes in occupied Kashmir and termed it “unfounded and baseless”.

NEW DELHI: India rejected US President Donald Trump’s comments mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for funding a library in Afghanistan, saying on Thursday that New Delhi has provided $3 billion in development assistance to the war-torn country.

The US president on Wednesday took a swipe at what he claimed were Modi’s frequent comments on building the library: “You know what that is? That’s like five hours of what we spend. “And we’re supposed to say, ‘Oh, thank you for the library.’ I don’t know who’s using it in Afghanistan,” Trump said.

A statement provided by government sources in New Delhi said “India plays a significant role as a development partner,” in Afghanistan, with projects aimed at achieving “a tangible improvement in the lives of its people”.

As the “largest donor in the region”, New Delhi has helped with infrastructure projects, humanitarian assistance and economic development, the statement said.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday mocked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for funding a library in Afghanistan, suggesting it was of no use.

Trump brought up India’s aid during a rambling press appearance at a cabinet meeting as he defended his push for the United States to invest less overseas.

While stating that he got along with Modi, Trump said the Indian leader was “constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan”.

“You know what that is? That’s like five hours of what we spend,” Trump said.

“And we’re supposed to say, ‘Oh, thank you for the library.’ I don’t know who’s using it in Afghanistan,” Trump said.

It was unclear to which project Trump was referring, but India has committed $3 billion in assistance to Afghanistan since US-led forces toppled the extremist Taliban regime after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Projects have included the reconstruction of an elite high school in Kabul and scholarships to India for 1,000 Afghan students each year.

Inaugurating the Afghan parliament building in 2015 after reconstruction financed by India, Modi promised to promote programmes “empowering Afghan youth with modern education and professional skills”.

India has been one of the most enthusiastic countries over the US mission in Afghanistan, where the former Taliban regime sheltered fiercely anti-Indian militants.

Trump last month moved to pull all 2,000 US troops out of Syria and cut by half the 14,000-strong force in Afghanistan, calling for less spending overseas.

Alluding in Wednesday’s remarks to the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Trump said: “Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan.”